The Idea Blog

I’m intrigued by Andrew Bird’s posts on NYTimes.com. The latest continues his ruminations on creating new music, including a couple of sound files demonstrating points he makes in his summary.

This I thought was worth highlighting. He’s referring to

“I’m well aware of the risk of recording [by] tracking different elements in different cities instead of a band playing in a room together, but I’ve come to believe that recording and playing live are two completely different animals. Live shows are adrenaline-fueled and spontaneous: if you want to capture that then you should put out a live show recording. But the kind of record you want to listen to over and over again in your bedroom or car is something else — a carefully carved piece of sound.”

It’s that there’s a difference between being a “performance” artist and a “recording” artist. I think Bird may be adept at both, but the skill sets are different.

Tags: music